‘You’re hiding in plain sight’: everyday racism under the Windrush Scandal

Global attention centred on the moral outrage of the impact of the Windrush Scandal. People lost their livelihoods, access to healthcare, homes and in some cases were removed. Yet little original scholarship exists on those who lived through the scandal exploring their daily experiences and the effect on family relationships and friendships. Through qualitative research this study interviewed people to explore their lived experiences of the Windrush Scandal. The findings show that the scandal is not considered an isolated incident but part of a cocktail of everyday racism, temporal in nature, where experiences represent the hierarchical nature of a racialised society. The research illustrates how immigration law and policy, through the hostile environment, resulting in the Windrush Scandal, made precarious everyday life, transforming and changing behaviours where victims were not only blamed by the state but also by their family and friends, splintering family relations and friendships.